UW professor produces PBS series to air Wednesday night

Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin professor turned TV producer, wants more people to identify with their inner fish.

A new three-part PBS series, titled Your Inner Fish and premiering Wednesday, focuses on the concept that humans are really forms of “modified fish.” The series was created by a production studio called Tanged Bank Studios and produced by Carroll.

Caroll is a professor of molecular biology and genetics, as well as vice president of science education for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The series is based on a book of the same name by University of Chicago biologist Neil Shubin. Shubin also hosts the series, according to a university statement.

Caroll said in the statement humans can see the traces of our “fishy ancestors” in their bones, bodies and DNA. He said the series shows examples of this, including how hands come from gills.

“The goal of this series is to entertain and inform by bringing together fascinating evidence of how the human body evolved, and to let viewers understand how we know what we know,” Caroll said in the statement.

Carroll has been involved with other documentaries and has been an executive producer of several short films.

The statement said that there are also other UW connections to the series, including anthropology professor John Hawks who worked as an adviser for one of the episodes. UW graduate Laura Helft worked as a researcher on the series.

Viewers can watch the first installment of “Your Inner Fish” this Wednesday night on PBS at 9 p.m.